The US Department of Health and Human Services in the Office of the Assistance Secretary of Preparedness and Response is hosting a day-long forum in November on citizen science and citizen generated data.

The forum is called Bring Your Own Data (BYOD): Opportunities and Challenges in Using Citizen-Generated Data for Situational Awareness, and will be held on Wednesday, November 14, 2012, at the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel, in Arlington, Virginia.

According to Sara Harris, one of the organizers, the forum is open to anyone with an interest in citizen science, whether in government, non-profit or academia. It is not solely focused on the use of citizen science in public health emergencies, but rather will span a broad spectrum.

Topics will include:

Transforming research with passive citizen data

Bring your own data – participatory data collection

Building situational awareness with passive and participatory data

Learning from citizens generating ecological data

Learning from citizens sharing genomic and personal data

How federal agencies and partners are using citizen-generated data

For more information, and to register, please the relevant page on the Public Health Emergency website here.

Does a couple of days of fresh air and spectacular mountain views appeal? What if you were to combine that with some meaningful work to help preserve the environment?

If this sounds right up your alley, then mark August 24-25, 2012 on your calendar now. BioBlitz 2012 has been announced, and it will take place in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado this year.

BioBlitz is a 24-hour event where volunteers and scientists work together to find and identify as many species of plants, animals, microbes, fungi, and other organisms as possible in a specific area. The 2011 BioBlitz was held in Saguaro National Park in Arizona; more than 5,000 people took part, and added more than 400 species to park lists. Some 190 species of invertebrates and 205 species of fungus previously unknown to the park were discovered. Of special note, one species of bryophyte found could be new to science.

The BioBlitz event is held in conjunction with a Biodiversity Festival. The 2012 two-day festival will be held at BioBlitz Base Camp at the Estes Park Fairgrounds. Online registration isn’t available as of this writing, but will be closer to the event. To be added to an update list, send an email to bioblitz@ngs.org.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, among others, is behind an upcoming conference on the public participation in science. Set to take place in Portland, Oregon on August 4th and 5th, 2012, the event already has six confirmed speakers. You can check out the agenda or register now.

Attention home schoolers: Canada holds a nation wide virtual science fair for grades K-12. In truly modern fashion, students do their science project and then create a website about it, hosted on the VSF website. Not only is there no charge, but there are also prizes to be won. Find out more here or skip over to the fast facts page.